Weakness.

I repeat, let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. What I am saying with this boastful confidence, I say not with the Lord's authority but as a fool. Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves! For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face. To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that! But whatever anyone else dares to boast of--I am speaking as a fool--I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one--I am talking like a madman--with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.  Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. (2 Cor. 11:16-30)

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor. 12:9-10)

When I really cant find the words or thoughts to express my feelings I always know His word will comfort and lead us. Not that I am great, but in fact am truly the least among us (where I most identify with Pauls teachings). Not that I have accomplished anything great, or even deserve to become something great, but I sincerely desire to put away from me any self gained strength. I desire to be weak and humble. I desire to be content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. I desire to fully trust in our Saviour. If I want to fully trust in our Savoiur I MUST be weak. If I must boast, let it be that I depend entirely on Christ; truly I can do nothing of my own power.

This post isn’t so far off my last post, and this post isn’t anyting special or fancy or revelatory, but I really feel this is one of the greatest things that God is working on me at this time.

I'm gonna' check myself before I wreck myself.

In November I wrote on decisions and on living deliberately. Little did I know I was actually preparing myself for the months, and I believe years to come. Almost immediately after posting that blog I found myself needing to act on what I had been working over in my mind for a while. And now, once again, I am faced with another situation that calls for a decision. I can choose from several different paths, one being, the path of least resistance which is, “go with the flow” “do what I have always done”, or I can choose to diversify myself, and become more dynamic with my life. 

I am finding change is not always comfortable. It can be very intimidating with uncertainty in the future. No one really knows what tomorrow holds. No one knows the last breath they will breath. That is why we MUST do the things, and BE the people that will cause us to be fulfilled and to flourish. At the end of each our lives we will look back on our lives (if given enough time) and we can assess what we have done, what we have accumulated, where we have gone, who we have known and who we have loved, we can assess our family and friends and our relationships with them, and we can assess what we spent our time worrying about. Sadly, I fear that too many of us spend our best years held back by worrying of finances, or the lack thereof. I fear too many of us will spend our time worrying about our job. Too many of us will spend our time attempting to accumulate our entire life just to enjoy a short retirement where money is no longer an issue, but we all know very well even retirees worry of their money. So again on this fine day in March 2016 I am challenged again to not allow the menial rigour of life to consume me or my family. I refuse to allow the “daily problems” to keep me from being the Christian, husband, and friend that I desire to be. 

My great friend, MK, described flourishing recently in a way that rings so true in my ears. Flourishing is sacrifice, service, care, patience, gentleness, and most of all pure love. In general we spend our lives searching for the love of pleasure, but to truly flourish we must learn to find pleasure in love. So, it is my goal for today, and tomorrow, and this year, and my entire life to learn to find pleasure in love and in all that love is. 

Change is coming. What I once always knew may be different tomorrow than in the past. What is most important is how I handle the change, and ideally, how I can create and determine the change that happens in my life to become a better and stronger Christian.

The struggle is real.

The path of least resistance seems to be our nature. As I grow and recognize human behaviour more than I once did I am constantly seeing people and companies promoting and selling us easier ways. It is true from cell phones to door locks. Lately, there seems to be a trend for remote locks that will unlock your house for you as you come near with your smartphone, and then re-lock as we move a certain distance from the house. Or how about vehicles that parallel park for us? You could think of dozens of more examples. This is all very fine and dandy, however, I am curious as to what it has done to humans work ethic or sense of earning something. Maybe this seems all very silly to you, but lately I have thought of many of the people that I would consider successful, and I find myself, by their example, being challenged to step out of societies mould of getting things faster and easier than ever before. I have recently finished "David and Goliath" by Malcolm Gladwell with many wonderful examples of successful underdogs and misfits who had to fight through adversity and opposition to end up successful. This may seem strange to you, but I've lately made it my prayer that I may also experience tough times just as my mentors have. I desire, oddly enough, to find myself in positions that are less than luxurious. I may be crazy, but I honestly believe that through these adversities and challenges that I daily find myself in are causing me to develop a quality work ethic, character, discipline, honesty, loyalty, and most importantly, a trust in God that He will provide my needs if I place Him above all else. Psalm 27:3 Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. Allow me to define success as I see it. Success: having a sincere and honest relationship with Jesus Christ, having quality relationships with family and friends, health in my body, and finally, the monetary abilities to pay my bills and have a little extra left over to share with others. You see, through this lens of success I have found more peace and joy than I could have ever experienced through what others would define as beings successful, that being, quite bluntly, more money than I knew what I would do with. Through this lens I welcome the "curve balls" of life, I welcome opposition, I welcome challenging situations in life that cause my determination and discipline to overcome. I am by no means suggesting we become brutes and forcefully approach all matters in life. I am not arguing against taking advantage of opportunities that arise. By all means I urge you to use every opportunity and possibility to your favour in order that you may progress and be better off today than yesterday, and yet further ahead tomorrow than today. My point merely is that maybe it wouldn't kill us to not look for the simplest and easiest way of life, but to face our fears, face what may be difficult and conquer it and end up all the more successful through humble beginnings. Any thoughts?